| "Give me your tired, your poor, Your huddled masses yearning to breathe free, The wretched refuse of your teeming shore. Send these, the homeless, tempest-tossed to me. I lift my lamp beside the golden door." |
The New York trip was full of fun and excitement, as well as a few minor problems.
Miraculously, we were all able to find our way up to the dock on time or close to it.
There was no trouble with tickets and we boarded the ferry to Ellis Island. Our plan was
to go to the Statue of Liberty. Unfortunately the ferries went to Ellis Island, then the
Statue, then back to the dock, and then back to Ellis Island, so we decided to go to Ellis
Island first.
Many patrols had a lot of trouble keeping their groups together, all lost were eventually
found. There was a short documentary film showing and it gave a pretty detailed overview
of Ellis Island. There were many exhibits including the restoration process, the
dormitories, and the Grand Hall.

We arrived at the Statue and a large fraction of the group headed directly to the
refreshment stand. After that we walked over to the 35 minute line to get in. Once inside
at least half of our patrol had to take off their coats, hats, and gloves in order to be
able to pass through the metal detector. Then over 350 stairs with almost 3 hours of
climbing and waiting to the top lay ahead. Once we made it past the long wait we still had
over 130 steps up a cramped spiral staircase to the crown. Once there, we spent about 5
minutes there and spent only 15-20 minutes walking down. Then we realized that over one
third of the troop had left on the 3:00 ferry so we had to wait until 4:15. Once back at
our cars we split up. Some went into New York while others went home.
Interesting Web Pages!!!